Children from Germany spotted in "Artek" camp in occupied Crimea. PHOTO
Several German children spent three weeks in one of the largest "youth centres of Russia" - the seized "Artek" camp in occupied Crimea. They met with representatives of Putin's "United Russia" party.
This is reported by the portal of the German company T-online, Censor.NET informs.
As noted, the "recreation" programme was organised by Vladimir Putin's "United Russia" party and included meetings with the Russian military, who demonstrated patriotism and a positive attitude to the war in Ukraine.
The portal found out that children from Germany, as well as, presumably, Finland and France, spent three weeks in the occupied Crimea.
The Finnish media first drew attention to this, and t-online managed to find confirmation both on the pages of "Artek" and in the materials of Russian propaganda.
Children were involved in Russian propaganda activities
According to the information provided by the Russian media, the children participated in various events where they were introduced to Russian history, traditional values and symbols.
More than 3,000 children and teenagers from 60 countries, including Germany, France and Finland, took part in the camp. Some of the children were invited as winners of competitions organised by Russian government agencies and state corporations such as "Rosatom".
According to the portal, during one of their meetings, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov congratulated them.
The children also took part in "diplomatic" roundtables to discuss Russia's values and became members of the "Friends of Russia Club", established by the "United Russia" party.
These "childen-diplomats", according to the organisers, will have to represent and promote Russian traditional values in their countries, as opposed to the "spoiled West", the portal writes.
Meeting with the Exwagnerians
In addition to the cultural programme, "Artek" also hosted meetings with the Russian military, including fighters from the former Wagner PMC, who took part in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, particularly in Bakhmut, and are known for their brutal massacres of prisoners and civilians.
The organisers of the event stated that the purpose of these meetings was to show children examples of patriotism and love for the homeland.
The article states that the parents of the children who took part in the trip to "Artek" may not have been fully aware of the political part of the programme. At least the official Russian representative offices in Germany, including the embassy and the Russian House in Berlin, said they had no information about the visits.
According to t-online, no other visits of children from Germany to "Artek" have been reported in recent years. In 2017, the propaganda channel RT reported that ten children from Berlin and Saxony had come there with a teacher from Berlin.
